WALTHAM, Mass. -- The Brandeis University women's basketball team has promoted assistant coach Aseem Rastogi to full-time status for the 2021-22 season.
A part-time assistant since 2019-20, Rastogi helped the Judges post a 13-12 record in his first full season with the team. The Judges posted the fourth-highest scoring team in program history with 1748 points, setting a school record in points per game (69.9 ppg) and recording their first winning record since 2014-15. Brandeis did not compete in 2020-21.
"Aseem's energy, passion, love for the sport, educator, student of the game, and knowledge over the past two years as the part-time assistant was a great addition to our program," said head coach Carol Simon, in her 35th season at the Judges' helm. "Promoting him as the full-time assistant was a no-brainer."
"I am thankful to Coach Simon and Athletic Director Lauren Haynie for this incredible opportunity to stay at Brandeis and work toward a brighter future for Brandeis Women's Basketball and the department as a whole," said Rastogi. "There is something special here in Waltham and I am happy to be able to contribute all I have to help grow this program into the national power I know we can be."
Prior to joining Brandeis, Rastogi coached girls and basketball at the scholastic level in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., for seven years. As the head varsity coach at South County High School in Lorton, Virginia, he coached his team to a record-breaking season in 2018-29. The team achieved its first-ever ranking from The Washington Post (#18) while setting school records for points in a game (81), 3-pointers made in a season (124), assists in a season (308), and points in a season (1257).
Before that, at W.T. Woodson High, he helped the program host its first district playoff game and appear in its first regional playoff game in 5 years. During this time, Rastogi developed 9 different all-district players and coordinated the first-ever girls elite camp in the history of Northern Virginia girls basketball. Prior to that, Rastogi spent 2012-13 at Division I Virginia Commonwealth University as Director of Player Personnel and Interim Director of Basketball Operations.
Currently, Rastogi serves as one of four Regional Leadership Coaches with Lead 'Em Up, a nationwide youth, high school, and college sports leadership program. He is also active writing for Her Hoop Stats, covering the WNBA and women's college basketball through analytics and film breakdown, and FastModel Sports.
Rastogi is the Co-Founder of Essential Coaching, the most deeply connected coaching community in the world. He serves as an ally for holistic coach and program development for coaches and organizations across the world and in every sport. In addition to his duties with the women's basketball team, Aseem worked side by side with the Swim & Dive program and the Women's Soccer program, helping each to create an aligned, player-centric program development model that has reaped major benefits for both clubs. Most recently, he was tasked with facilitating 100 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Group Work Sessions at Brandeis from June 2020-March 2021, serving all student-athletes, staff, and administration at Brandeis. The sessions were centered around culture, race, privilege, equity, and LGBTQIA+ issues, as well as Brandeis Athletics' Transgender Student Inclusion Policy.
In addition to his duties as the full-time Assistant Women's Basketball Coach, Rastogi will serve as the Athletics Inclusion Educator, where he will work side by side with the senior leadership in the department and the university. He will consult with Dr. Aretina Hamilton from the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, to discuss the intersection of university-wide and department programming and with the Director of Athletics and Associate Director of Athletics on inclusive practices during department search and screening process. Further, he will plan and execute Group Work Sessions for all first-year student-athletes as well as staff multiple times a year, and be available to teams and groups inside the department and on campus for further DEI programming.
Rastogi received his B.S. in physical education and sport management from Old Dominion University in 2010 and his M.Ed. in Adult/Higher Education Administration & Intercollegiate Athletic Administration from the University of Oklahoma in 2012. He lives in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, with his wife Becca.